System for Interchangeable Cufflink Faces

ABSTRACT

A two piece cufflink system with a male and female element combining to make the equivalent of one cufflink is described. The male is the back piece, and the female is the front piece. This allows for a base male piece which fits into a French/Double Cuff shirt as a functional closure item in the same way as normal cufflinks do. The cufflink also has an interchangeable front female piece that allows the owner to change the design of the cufflink that is seen by third parties. There is no need to change the male back piece.

PRIOR APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 62/768,945, filed on Nov. 18, 2018, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates generally to an improved cufflink system using interchangeable faces.

BACKGROUND

Cufflinks have existed for over 100 years. They serve the purpose of holding together cuffs of a shirt that are made with “French Cuffs” or “Double Cuffs” where no closure mechanism exists on the shirt sleeve at the cuff that falls at the wearer's wrist. (Other shirt options include, “Barrel” or “Button” cuffs, which are closed by means of a button and buttonhole.)

Cufflinks are both functional, serving as the mechanism of closure for shirts with French Cuffs/Double Cuffs, and also decorative, featuring as a piece of jewelry both when worn by men and women.

Generally speaking cufflinks are manufactured with metal bases along with decorative additions such as stones, enamel and other methods to add color and design. This can be expensive both in terms of the cost of metals (if precious or semi-precious) and also stones, enameling and other additional decorative touches. This leads to a high cost per unit for consumers.

Thus, there is a need to offer consumers a choice of decorative or design faces without the cost of having to pay for an entire cufflink. This results in less materials used in each unit sold and leads to lower cost for the consumer.

SUMMARY

This solution described herein allows vendors to create multiple interchangeable designs for a cufflink front piece, allowing consumers to invest in a system where only one pair of cufflink back pieces need be purchased. The consumer may then purchase as many interchangeable cufflink front piece pairs as they desire. This minimizes cost to the consumer of expensive precious metals, stones, enameling and other processes used to create cufflink designs. This allows vendors to sell consumers multiple designs of cufflink front pieces at a far lesser cost than would be necessary if each design required a complete cufflink.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The accompanying figures, where like reference numerals refer to identical or functionally similar elements throughout the separate views, together with the detailed description below, are incorporated in and form part of the specification, and serve to further illustrate embodiments of concepts that include the claimed invention, and explain various principles and advantages of those embodiments.

Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.

FIGS. 1A and 1B show 2 views of the reverse of an interchangeable cufflink front piece.

FIG. 2 shows a view of the obverse of an interchangeable cufflink front piece.

FIGS. 3A and 3B show 2 views of the reverse of a cufflink back piece.

FIG. 4 shows a view of the obverse of a cufflink back piece.

FIGS. 5A, 5B, 6A, 6B, 7A, 7B, 8A, 8B, 9A, 9B, 10A and 10B show samples of cufflink back pieces with an installed interchangeable cufflink front piece along with closeups of the obverse side of the interchangeable cufflink front pieces.

The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The solution to this problem is to create a two piece cufflink system with a male and female element combining to make the equivalent of one cufflink. The male is the back piece, and the female is the front piece. This allows for a base male piece which fits into a French/Double Cuff shirt as a functional closure item in the same way as normal cufflinks do. The cufflink also has an interchangeable front female piece that allows the owner to change the design of the cufflink that is seen by third parties. There is no need to change the male back piece.

Turning to FIGS. 1A and 1B, shown are two views of the reverse of an interchangeable cufflink front piece. The reverse side of the body 110 a of the cufflink front piece incorporates two protruding arc ridges 120 a, 120 b and a cylindrical-shaped front depression 130 that may include a plurality of scored circular ridges.

Turning to FIG. 2, shown is a view of the obverse side of an interchangeable cufflink front piece. Shown is the body 110 b of the cufflink front piece. As the obverse side is public-facing, a front design 210 may be incorporated in the cufflink front piece to provide an aesthetic effect.

Turning to FIGS. 3A and 3B, shown are two views of the reverse side of a cufflink back piece. The reverse side of the body 310 a of the cufflink back body incorporates a circumferential ridge 320, two depressed arc regions 340 a, 340 b and a back cylindrical-shaped depression 330 that may include a plurality of scored circular ridges. Also shown is the reverse side of the back post 360 a and a shaft 350 (in FIG. 3A only).

Turning to FIG. 4, shown is a view of the obverse of interchangeable cufflink back piece. Shown is the obverse side of the body 310 b, which is connected to a shaft 350, which is connected to the reverse side of the back post (not shown). Also shown is the obverse side of the back post 360 b, which is public-facing. A back design 410 may be incorporated in the back post 360 to provide an aesthetic effect.

The shaft 350 is designed to be secured within the French/Double Cuff buttonholes so that the obverse side of the back post 360 and the obverse side of the interchangeable cufflink front piece 110 b are public-facing.

The components shown in the foregoing figures may be of any material, shape or size capable of withstanding the wear and tear of operating within the French/Double Cuff buttonholes. The front design 210 and back design 410 may consist of any design in 2D or 3D.

The interchangeable cufflink system operates by selective coupling and de-coupling of the reverse side of the body 110 a of the cufflink front piece with the reverse side of the body 310 a of the cufflink back piece. Coupling may be accomplished by one or more of: (1) magnets; (2) friction; and (3) mechanical interaction, possibly using the two protruding arc ridges 120 a, 120 b and two depressed arc regions 340 a, 340 b. Mechanical interaction may also be aided by one or more of the circumferential ridges 320, the front cylindrical-shaped depression 130 and the back cylindrical-shaped depression 300.

Thus, the consumer can purchase one cufflink back piece, and then as many interchangeable cufflink front pieces as he or she should so desire. This will be at a lesser cost due to the need for less materials than if purchasing the same number of designs as complete cufflinks.

FIGS. 5A, 5B, 6A, 6B, 7A, 7B, 8A, 8B, 9A, 9B, 10A and 10B show samples of cufflink back pieces with an installed interchangeable cufflink front piece (Figure xA) and closeups of the obverse side of the interchangeable cufflink front piece (Figure xB) used in Figure xA. Here, “x” represents 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10.

In the foregoing specification, specific embodiments have been described. However, one of ordinary skill in the art appreciates that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the claims below. Accordingly, the specification and figures are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of present teachings.

The benefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any element(s) that may cause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become more pronounced are not to be construed as a critical, required, or essential features or elements of any or all the claims. The invention is defined solely by the appended claims including any amendments made during the pendency of this application and all equivalents of those claims as issued.

Moreover, in this document, relational terms such as first and second, top and bottom, and the like may be used solely to distinguish one entity or action from another entity or action without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between such entities or actions. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “has”, “having,” “includes”, “including,” “contains”, “containing” or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises, has, includes, contains a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. An element proceeded by “comprises . . . a”, “has . . . a”, “includes . . . a”, “contains . . . a” does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of additional identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises, has, includes, contains the element. The terms “a” and “an” are defined as one or more unless explicitly stated otherwise herein. The terms “substantially”, “essentially”, “approximately”, “about” or any other version thereof, are defined as being close to as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. The term “coupled” as used herein is defined as connected, although not necessarily directly and not necessarily mechanically. A device or structure that is “configured” in a certain way is configured in at least that way, but may also be configured in ways that are not listed.

The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to allow the reader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in the foregoing Detailed Description, it can be seen that various features are grouped together in various embodiments for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separately claimed subject matter. 

I claim:
 1. A cufflink system, comprising: a first front piece comprising a front reverse face and a front obverse face, wherein the front reverse face comprises at least one protrusion and wherein the front obverse face incorporates a first design; a back piece comprising: a body comprising a body reverse face and a body obverse face, a shaft, and a back post comprising a back post reverse face and a back post obverse face, wherein the body obverse face is connected to the shaft and the shaft is connected to the back post reverse face; wherein the body reverse face comprises at least one depression; wherein the back post obverse face incorporates a second design; a coupling mechanism capable of selectively coupling and decoupling the front reverse face and the body reverse face.
 2. The cufflink system as in claim 1, further comprising: a second front piece comprising a second front reverse face and a second front obverse face, wherein the second front reverse face comprises at least one second protrusion and wherein the second front obverse face incorporates a third design; a second coupling mechanism capable of selectively coupling and decoupling the second front reverse face and the body reverse face, wherein the coupling mechanism and the second coupling mechanism operate in the same manner.
 3. The cufflink system as in claim 1, wherein the coupling mechanism and the second coupling mechanism operate using magnetism.
 4. The cufflink system as in claim 1, wherein the coupling mechanism and the second coupling mechanism operate using friction.
 5. The cufflink system as in claim 1, wherein the coupling mechanism and the second coupling mechanism operate using mechanical interaction.
 6. The cufflink system as in claim 5, wherein the mechanical interaction operates via the at least one protrusion and the at least one depression.
 7. The cufflink system as in claim 5, wherein the body reverse face further comprises a first cylindrical-shaped depression and the front reverse face further comprises a second cylindrical-shaped depression; and wherein the mechanical interaction operates via the first cylindrical-shaped depression and the second cylindrical-shaped depression.
 8. The cufflink system as in claim 5, wherein the body reverse face further comprises a circumferential ridge; and wherein the mechanical interaction operates via the circumferential ridge. 